The Edmonton Oilers will get a very good player if they use their third overall selection at the 2014 NHL Draft, and to date there has been no indication that the team is considering any other course of action.

Of course, if the rumoured value of a top pick in the draft is anywhere close to accurate, trading the selection could be the best play.

Some of the rumours are absurd. For example, Howard Berger writes that two NHL sources told him the Toronto Maple Leafs could move the No. 8 pick, Dion Phaneuf and Nazem Kadri in exchange for the No. 1 selection and Ed Jovanvoski. If the Leafs are really willing to move their best centre and best defenceman and take on Jovanovski’s awful contract in order to move up seven spots, they’re batty and every team picking ahead of them should be calling Dave Nonis day and night.

One scout aware of multiple offers for the top two picks said, “The going price to move up into those [first two] spots would be picks — a high first and a second or third — and an established player that helps your top two lines.”

This fits with what we know.

In 2008, the Leafs made a deal with the New York Islanders, moving from No. 7 overall to No. 5 overall to grab Luke Schenn. The cost of the deal was a second and third round draft pick. The Islanders moved down again, to No. 9 overall, in exchange for a second round draft pick.

In 2004, the Carolina Hurricanes advanced from No. 8 overall to No. 4 overall, trading a second round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the process.

In 2003, the Pittsburgh Penguins moved from the No. 3 overall slot to No. 1 overall in their pursuit of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury; the cost was Mikael Samuelsson and a second round draft pick (with a third rounder coming the other way).

Every draft is a little different – looking back, the cost to move up in 2003 or 2004 was significantly less than it was in 2008. With that said, the deal suggested to Joyce seems to be in the range, particularly since we’re likely talking about a team a little ways back making a significant move up the draft order.

If that kind of value is on the table, it has to be tempting for Edmonton. If they could move from No. 3 down to somewhere in the No. 8 range, they’d still be left with a pretty good player – perhaps a defenceman like Haydn Fleury or a power forward in the Nick Ritchie/Jake Virtanen range. That, plus someone who could help immediately and possibly another pick would be a pretty good return on the No. 3 selection.

It’s still going to be a tough sale for the Oilers, I expect. The (likely) top four selections at the draft are three centres and a defenceman, and those are positions where Edmonton needs help. The bottom half of the top-10 is likely to be mostly wingers, a position where the Oilers are fairly set for high-end talent.

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